A HUMAN rights lawyer Femi Falana has said former President Goodluck Jonathan is not eligible to contest the 2023 presidential election.
Falana stated this on Thursday while to speculations that the former president might contest the election on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) argued that the Amended Section 137 (3) of the 1999 Constitution barred Jonathan from participating in the polls.
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“The former President is disqualified from contesting the said election by virtue of 137 (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended,” Falana said in a statement he released on Thursday.
The section was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018.
It makes it difficult for a vice president or deputy who completes the term of their principals from holding the respective offices more than once.
“A person who was sworn in to complete the term for which another person was elected as President shall not be elected to such office for more than a single term,” the section stated.
A president or governor’s term could be cut short by reasons of death or resignation, paving the way for their their deputies to complete their terms.
Jonathan was sworn in 2010 to complete the tenure of late President Umaru Yar’Adua after he died while still in his first term in office.
He was also sworn in for another term on May 29, 2011, after he won the presidential poll of that year.
Having completed his own first term of four years in office, Jonathan sought reelection for a second term in 2015 but lost to Buhari.
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